One
of the most recognizable names in the burgeoning electric car market
is Tesla. The company has been offering its Roadster since 2008. The
Roadster is positioned as a luxury sports car with performance
capable of matching that of some combustion engine powered sports
cars.

MarketWatch reports
today that the Tesla
IPO is set to start on June 29 (it announced
its intent to file an IPO back in January). The company plans to
offer 11.1 million shares at a price of $14 to $16 per share. As soon
as the IPO starts, Tesla has agreed to sell $50 million of its stock
to Toyota. It was also revealed that Tesla is purchasing the idled
NUMMI auto manufacturing facility, located in Fremont, California,
for $42 million.

Tesla will trade with the ticker symbol TSLA.
The SEC filing that Tesla filed lists shareholders with more than 5%
ownership in the company including Elon Musk, Al Wahada Capital
Investment LLC, Blackstar Investco LLC, VantagePoint Venture
Partners, and Valor Equity Partners.

Tesla was also granted a
$465
million loan by the U.S. Energy Department this year. So far,
Tesla has drawn over $45 million in funds from that loan
reports MarketWatch as
of June 14. Tesla's IPO is set to raise as much as $180 million, much
more than Tesla stated it would raise in January.

quote: Could you imagine feeling all 300 ft lbs of torque the instant you push the pedal up until the point your about to shift?

You won't because no tire made on this planet can put down 300 lb-ft (or even 200 lb-ft) at 0 rpm. All it results in is tire spin and little acceleration. While you're doing that my piddly 260 lb-ft @ 2500 rpm car shoots right past you. Power is nothing if you can't get it to the ground. Ask ANYONE with a high hp car and two drive wheels.

What happens is the traction control kicks in limiting torque to something the tires and chassis can handle which totally defeats the purpose of having 300 lb-ft at 0 rpm. If you could put that power down, the Tesla would be seriously fast but you can't. It still manages a 12.9@102 regardless (Tesla Sport) which, oddly, is one mph slower than the regular Tesla (according to Car and Driver).

For the price though ($130k base), you can buy a MUCH quicker car. Hell, you can match the performance for much cheaper. But I'd imagine their customers don't buy one cause it's fast, they buy it because it's different or they're trying to make a statement.